Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-05-13

this Mr. CroftS house-Mr. Croft, South
African RepublicF
"'Yes, little miss, this is his house, and this
is the South African Republic, and am he.
And now who might you be, my dearsf |
answered.
"'lf you please, sir, we are your nieces and
we have come to you from England
"'Whatr | halloaed, startled out of my
wits, as well might be.
"'Oh, sir says the poor little thing, clasp
ing her thin, wet hands, please don't send us
away. Bessie is so wet and cold and hungry,
too, she isn't fit to go any farther.
"And She set to work to cry, whereon the
little one cried too, from fright and cold aud
sympathy
"Wcll, of course, took them both to tie
fire and SET them on my knees and haloaed for
IIebc, the old Hottentot woman who did my
cooking, and between us we undressed them
and wrapped them up in some old clothes
and fed them with soup and wine, so that in
half an hour they were quite happy and not
"A bit frightened.
"'And now, young ladies' | SAL, come
and give me kiss, both of you, and tell me
how you came here
"And this is the tale they told me-com-
| peted of course, from what | learned after
ward-and an odd one it is. 1t seems that
|
sweet young thing-and treated her like a
dog He was drunken rascal, was my half
brother, and he beat his poor wife and shame
| fully neglected her, and even i'll treated the
| two Ettle girls, till at last the poor woman,
weak as she was from suffering and i'll health,
could bear it no longer, and formed the wild
idea of escaping to this country and throw
| ing herself upon my protection 1t will show
how desperate she must have BEEN She
scraped together and borrowed some money,
enough to pay for three second class passages
| to Natal and few pounds over, and one day,
when her brute a husband was away on
the drink and gamble, she slipped on board a
sailing ship in the London docks, and before
he knew anything about it they were well out
to sea. But it was her last effort,
poor dear soul, and the excitement of
it finished her. Before they had
been ten days at sea she sank and died, and
the two poor children were left alone. And
what they must have suffered, or rather
what poor jess must have suffered, for she
was old enough to feel, God only knows. But
| can tell YOU this, she has never got over the
shock to this hour 1t has left its mark on
Ler, sir But, let people say what they WILL
there is a power that looks after the helpless
and that power took those poor, homeless,
wandering children under its wing. The cap
tain of the vessel lsfricndcd them, and when
at last they got to Durham some of the raSNcn
gers made n subscription and got an old Boer,
who was coming up this way with his wife to
the TranSvaal, to take them under his charge
The Boer and his vrouw treated the children
fairly well, but they did not do one thing
more than they bargained for. At the turn
from the Wakkerstrom road, that you came
along to-day, they put the children down, for
they had no luggage, and told them if they
went along there they would come to Mein-
heer Croft's house. That was in the middle
of the afternoon, and they were until o'clock
getting here poor little dears, for the tracl;
was fainter then than it is now, and they
wandered off into the veldt and would have
persisted there in the wet and cold had they
not CHANGED to the lights of the house.
And that was how my nieces came here
Capt. Mel And here they have been ever
since except for couple of years when
sent them to the Cape for schooling, and a
lonely man | was when they We're away
"And how about the father.' asked Joh
Mel, deeply interested. "Did you ever hear
any more of himl'
Hear of him, the villain" almost shouted
the old man. jumping up III wrath. GAY
d-n him, heard of him. What do you
think! The two chicks had been with IN,
some eighteen months, long enough for me to
learn to love them with all my heart, whei
one fine morning, as ! was seeing about the
new kraa wall, | see a fellow come riding VI
on an old, raw boned, gray horse. Up h,
comes to me- and as he came looked at him
and said to myself, you are drunkard YOU
are, and ii rogne; it's written on your face
and, what's more, | know your face Iul
. see did not guess it was son ofmy ow.
. fathers that | was looking at. How
, should ~
: "'Is your name Croftf he said
"'Ay,' answered
$50 is mine he went on with a sort of ,
drunken leer I'm your brother
care youH said beginning to get my
back up for guessed what his game was
and what may you he after | tell YOU u
! once, and to your face, that if you are III,
brother you are II BLACKBOARD, and don
want to know you or have anything to de
! with you; and if you are not, beg You
@ pardon for coupling you with such
+ scoundrel.'
/ "Oh, that's your tune. is itr said he, witt
: a sheer. We'll, now, my dear brother Sila.
/ | want my children. They have got a it'll
half brother at home-for | have marie,
again, Sias-who is anxious to have them f
I play with, so if you will he SO good as to han,
. them over, I'll take them away at once
D You'll take them away, will youF said
e all of "a tremble With rage aud fear.
a Eyes, Silas, will. They are mine 10y law
and | am not going to breed children for yoi
4 to have the comfort of their society. w
= taken advice, Silas, and that's sound law
Y and he leered at me again
t II stood and looked at the man, and though
: of how he had treated those poor children an'
v their young mother, and my blood boiled an,
grew mad. Without another word
4 jumped over the half finished wall and caugh
a him by the leg for was strong man tel
!, years ago and jerked him off the horse. A
; he came down he dropped the sjambock from
r his hand, and l caught hold of it and thel
a and there gave him the soundest hiding MAJ
a ever had Lord, how he did halloal When
= was tired let him get up.
e "Now,' l said, be Off with you, and if you
t come back here I'll bid the Kafiirs hunt you
back to Natal with their sticks This is TIN